TOPICS OF THE DAY.
THE GERMAN CLAIM IN AFRICA.
THE struggle between the British and German Govern- ments—for we think it clear there is a struggle, though it may be one of wrestlers rather than of duellists —must be a most trying one for the diplomatists of both countries. On the one hand, the German Government, which is much better informed than the German people, heartily desires the good-will of the British Foreign Office. That good-will is a strong support to the League of Peace, affecting strongly as it does the whole policy of aussia ; and is almost vital to Italy, which requires British " benevolence," not to say protection, in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea at almost every turn. A word from London would send France to Tripoli, while the Abyssinian dream can only be realised, or even thought of, if Italy can rely on British toleration. The German Emperor, as the pivot of the League of Peace, must therefore be friendly to Great Britain, which, again, holds all the important coaling- stations scattered across the world. On the other hand, the German Emperor is perplexed, and even irritated, by a certain collision of interests. He is always " modern," and he imagines, in this departing from the ancient policy of his House, that tropical possessions will greatly enrich Germany, and enable her to realise his favourite design of creating a strong fighting fleet. He desires, therefore, to obtain all he can in Africa, and finds the British at one point sadly in his way. He wishes to own the entire territory between the Indian Ocean and the Congo State, thus controlling the great Lakes, and leaving it possible, if events should make such a course convenient, to acquire the Congo State itself, which cannot remain Belgian long, and so rule an Empire in Africa stretching from sea to sea. That would be an African India worth heavy expenditure, both of money and energy, and it is towards this that the Emperor, who is a man of strong imagination, looks with desiring gaze. It is not dominion he is seeking in the usual sense, but a vast tropical property, the yield from which is to reduce, and perhaps terminate, the poverty which, owing to the infertility of much of their home domain, is the chronic difficulty of the German people. He cannot bear, therefore, to recede from a demand which seems to Englishmen to be exceedingly grasping. We do not know that it is specially grasping. The States which have acquired dependencies in any continent have always been driven to expand their size, finding them easier to govern, to tax, and to improve on the large scale than the little one. The Spaniards, who began the busi- ness, took the whole of one continent, and a huge cantle of another ; we ourselves have gradually acquired sove- reignty throughout India, which is as large as Europe without Russia; and the French desire to expand Algiers over Morocco on the west and Tripoli on the east,—that is, to dominate over the whole of Northern Africa, a magnificent dominion, five times as large as France. It is natural to a German Emperor to think on a large scale, and, except as regards one point, we do not know that Great Britain has any opposition to offer. We do not want the Congo State for ourselves, and may reasonably consider Germany a safer Colonial neighbour than France. But then, unfortunately, the one reserved point is of such supreme importance. Great Britain is most reluctant to quarrel or even to differ with Germany, whose general interests in the world are identical with her own ; but if she is to possess any large dominion in tropical Africa at all, it must be the eastern side of the continent, which looks towards India, and which we can consequently govern and organise, and if necessary coerce or defend, through Indian agents. Zanzibar is already Indian, and wherever our flag flies in Africa, Indian men of business begin a commerce with the interior which supersedes slave- hunting as a source of wealth, and by giving the people employment induces them to " settle down," that vague but significant first step in civilisation. To command East Africa, we must have control of the Lake navigation, which possibly could be sufficiently secured by treaty, and the means of keeping an open internal road from the Zambesi to the Nile. If the Portuguese Colonies were ours, we might dispense with this, and content ourselves with the sea-route and certain rights of commercial transit; but as they are not ours, the internal route is a question of importance, mportance. Moreover, this route is declared by all the African experts, so far as we know without an exception, to be not only important, but indispensable, while to add to the complication, the public mind, it may be through one of those strange instincts which have sa often guided Englishmen in foreign adventures, it may be through interest in Mr. Stanley, or it may be by pure- accident, has become aware of the magnitude of the stake at issue. There is a sort of fury of desire manifested on the subject in many political quarters, as well as in all com- mercial regions, leading to a suspicious jealousy of Lord Salisbury's action which, if the results were not so serious, would be almost comic. It is not only that, as Mr. Schnad- horst said on Monday, every Scotch Tory will desert Lord Salisbury if he " goes wrong" about Africa, but that the whole Imperialist party, which forms a heavy division of his supporters, will be annoyed to a degree danger- ous to their allegiance. The whole "African ' party are, to speak truth, a little beside themselves upon the matter, and talk as if the surrender of the right to. do a difficult piece of work were equivalent to the surrender of a province. One worthy man, certainly Imperialist, though possibly also anti-Conservative, actually published, as a deliberate opinion, an argument that it would be better to cede Ireland to the German Emperor than Nyassaland. A good many of those who are thus irate, are, as Lord Salisbury warns them, making a huge mis- take as to the power of Great Britain to act at great distances from the sea; but still, their anger has a great influence on the situation. An English Premier must act as trustee for the nation, and in cases where the majority has a definite opinion, he must, in forming his. decision, at least allow it its full weight. Lord Salisbury is therefore in the unfortunate position of being compelled to reconcile two claims, or rather, two plans for the future which are mutually incompatible, and about which, in the nature of things, compromise cannot be arranged. You cannot give a carrier half a right to cross a railway-line, nor, if the line stretches from sea to sea, can you tell him to drive round outside its termini. The Premier cannot press the German Emperor to the wall without giving up an informal alliance which, for one thing, helps greatly to protect us in Egypt ; he cannot yield to the German Emperor without• injuring the country and alienating many of his own sup- porters ; and he cannot discover a compromise in itself endurable which would reconcile such vast conflicting interests and claims. We suppose, though we do not know, that one compromise was thought of for a moment, —namely, to make Damaraland worth having by an im- mense cession of the richer back-country; but the mere rumour of such an idea seemed to drive the A nglo- Africans quite mad, and if it was ever entertained, it was abandoned.
We do not see, under such circumstances, what is to be done, except to break off the negotiations and wait for a happier opportunity, perhaps a second Conference for the distribution of Africa. It is useless and undignified to bicker ; and in presence of determinations so firm, negotiations can only result in bickering. The present condition of affairs is no doubt scarcely safe, and prodigiously annoying, for both the Germans and the English are snapping up kingdoms through treaties with black chiefs, and discoveries, and the establishment of stations, in a way which may one day lead to a serious collision. Moreover, both profitable commerce and venture- some speculation are hampered by the uncertainty which prevails, while the great African Companies, German as well as English, are driven to their wits' end ; but still, in diplomacy it often remains only to endure the lighter of two evils. The German Government is not likely, in its present European position, to allow its servants to commit direct aggressions ; while we have plenty to do for the present in managing Portugal without hitting her, and in strengthening the great Com- panies, which have displayed some want of energy in allowing Major Wissmann to anticipate them so com- pletely in forming a Sepoy army. Time fights on our side in one way, for the Germans do not yet realise the difficulties in their path, and have not yet begun to fret under an expenditure which they will soon discover brings them but inadequate returns. Nyassaland must not be taken intermediately ; but that proviso made, we can wait until the situation either improves or becomes visibly intolerable. It is a most vexatious delay, but Empires can only be built quickly by direct force of arms, and we have not yet digested all that magnificent territory between the Transvaal Republic, now rapidly becoming British, and the Zambesi. The country would do much better to spend a little on arterial roads and a railway or two, than to be impatient with the Premier because he cannot solve the insoluble, or to be in a rage with the Germans because they entertain ambitious dreams. They are not to blame for that, under the laws now regulating Colonial expansion, nor even for stumbling into a path which lies right athwart our own. After all, we English, we must remember, are horribly in the way of everybody else all the world over ; and as we govern fairly well, or at least try to do it, we are apt to stop there for centuries. That is very exasperating to everybody but ourselves, and a little patient fortitude will not lower our dignity. Our people are a little bewildered by the electric telegraph, and forget that, although we acquired Bengal in a day, it took us just a hundred years to make the Queen, by the right of actual possession, Empress of India.
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